How Not to Make a Mary-Sue
WARNING This guide was made a long time ago, and could be taken as offensive to some people. Please note, it's not intended to be that way. This was written in a blunt way. Don't take much in this guide seriously, as names and pelt color don't really matter. Honestly, it's just their personality. So long as the cat isn't named Star____. 1: Names Names matter. If a cat is named "Dreamheart", that is a Mary-Sue name. Avoid using things with 'Shine', 'Dream', 'Star', 'Silver', 'Shimmer', or 'Stream' in front. Especially star. That's a HUGE NO. And if they become a leader, what will they be, Starstar? That's just silly. DO NOT name a cat Starheart or something like that. Not even if their name is like 'Starnose'. It's a HUGE NO. If your going to use any of those, you must use a suffix like 'claw', 'nose', 'face', 'fire', 'flame', 'pelt', 'fur', or 'fang'. But do not use pelt or fur for Shine or Shimmer. Maybe not Dream, either. Silverfur sounds okay, doesn't it? But do not use Silverpelt, because you'd be naming them after the milky way, witch does make them a Sue. Sorry. Silverclaw, Silvernose, Silverface, Silverfire, Silverflame, and Silverfang sound okay. Silverstripe is okay, too. But DO NOT use 'Silverstream', 'Silverheart', 'Silverfeather', or 'Silverlight'. That just makes them sound Sue-ish. If your going to do that, DO NOT make their personality perfect. You could only make something that doesn't sound pretty as the prefix if your going to do that. 2: Personality You must have SOME flaws. If your cat has no flaws, then that makes it perfect, and perfect is a Mary-Sue. Just avoid that. It's a HUGE NO to do that, no matter their name. Even if their name is 'Uglyface', that'd still make them a Sue. If they have flaws, it also makes a more interesting read. There's no point in reading about someone with no flaws. Their personality has to have at least three flaws. Maybe more. But they can't be something that isn't a trait, like 'ugly-looking', or 'one eye gone from face'. A real flaw would be 'anger issues', or 'evil'. They can't just be 'happy-go-lucky', or 'nice all the time'. That's just making a Sue. And nobody wants a Sue as a main cat. If they are a real warrior, they cannot be 'no flaws'. If you want to enter a collab, and they ask you about flaws, you can't say 'none'. If you have none, you will not get accepted. If your ever urged to make a cat with no flaws, then just think of it as entering a collab where they ask for flaws. No flaws = HUGE NO. You must have flaws. If your trying to base the cat off yourself, and it's coming out as a Sue, then you should have a personality. Not one where there are 'no flaws'. You must have a dark side of yourself. Depression is a flaw, anger issues are a flaw, but ugly-looking is not. They might be beautiful inside of they have an ugly face. THAT IS NOT A FLAW. 3: Coloring If you have a cat named Dreamlight, at least make their pelt color not beautiful. If you have a cat named Dreamtail, and your pelt coloring is pretty, but the inside is not, that's a perfect model how not to make a Sue. They may have pretty colors, but they have flaws on the inside. Their name is also not beautiful. Just perfect. If you have a silver tabby with 'pretty' white stripes named Shinefeather, then your cat is a Sue. A cat named Shinefeather has a not-pretty coloring, then that's good. If you have a cat named Shinefeather, you should make the pelt gray with black stripes. That does not make them pretty. And they are not shining at all. If you name a cat Dirtleaf with not pretty things, then you do not have a Sue. Unless their personality does not have a flaw. The Erins made Leafpool, a pretty name, but she had flaws and she was not beautiful on the outside. If you have a pretty name like that, try to not make them have a pretty pelt. That just gets them a Sue reward. If your personality does not have a flaw, then it is automatically a Sue. Their colors could be black-and-white, but their name could be Dreamshine. If they had flaws, they would not be a Sue, but if it didn't they would be. If you give a cat a not-so-pretty name with not-so-pretty pelt coloring, but they had no flaws, it would still be a Sue. That's the end of this!